Grief. It seems like the cruel result of the greatest gift. Nobody aches for the person they never knew, never loved, have no memories of. Grief only seems to exist because love existed first. Recently a family in our church, and really our church itself, has been processing the loss of an incredible lady, mother, wife and friend to so many. There has been such a mix of emotions as people are journeying through their grief, and it has made me think again about what grief actually is and why it hurts in the way it does.
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Latest writing
Why Didn’t God Stop the Sign?
This is a theological take on a terrible event and the questions surrounding it, not a take on the event or the tragedy itself - I don’t mean to be insensitive answering these questions. The tragedy has no less weight because there are questions that have been raised adjacent to it that I am processing and answering here. Here’s what happened (for those …
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Leaving “The Church”
So I’ve been gathering with believers nearly every Sunday of my life. I’ve had good friends become bad friends, I’ve seen great leaders live great evils. Some of my catalogue of Substacks will take you on those journeys. One thing remains hopefully substantially evident, my heart is for the gathered church. I have little time for those standing outside it throwing stones, the type who are not part of the church community, don’t know what it is to stand alongside…
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Five Things Church Planting Taught Me the Hard Way
Church planting is a learning curve. I read books, studied, listened to people who had done it before, but some stuff is learnt when it blows up in your face. So, as of the last five minutes, and it is 4 in the morning, here are my fairly unfiltered five things I’ve learned planting and pastoring a church.
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The Happiness Hack Nobody Is Telling You
We’re brilliant at constantly going after the next best thing, its always just around the corner, promising lasting happiness. Money, house… I remember saying to a friend of mine, who had a few million in the bank, that I didn’t understand why people keep buying bigger and better houses, especially when they don’t need them. No kids at home, already a massive house, cleaner coming in... what exactly is the bigger house going to do?
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Public Restrooms, Bad Christians, Good Works and Losing Your Salvation
There’s a tension in Christianity that I think we’ve sometimes handled badly. We are saved by grace through faith, not by works. Paul couldn’t really make that any clearer. You didn’t earn your salvation, you didn’t achieve it by becoming holy enough, and you didn’t finally get God’s attention because you managed to sort yourself out. I love the story Alistair Begg tells about imagining the thief on the cross arriving in heaven and being questioned about why he’ there.
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AI and Me
Anyone else noticed that AI has a negative spin on it at the moment? Students booed at the University of Arizona while Google CEO, Eric Schmidt at the University spoke positively about AI. Some christians have desperately let the world know that involvement with AI is the beast from Revelation, literally suggesting that your salvation is not safe if you…
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A Mansion, a 200-Year-Old Toy, and the One Legacy Death Cannot Touch
If you died today, what have you done that carries eternal weight? During a recent visit to England (about a month ago), I returned to my mother’s former family home, a distinguished Georgian manor house set in the picturesque Somerset village of Stanton Drew, I remember playing in the halls and gardens as a child. It is now a nursing home with thirty-t…
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You are believing a bunch of lies.
A Christian covered in lies “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk.” That was Peter.
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Meeting Brian Houston, being given Francis Chan's new manuscript, and my beef with whats going on right now.
The Church Comes in Many Expressions The church comes in many expressions and outworkings. The gathered church on a Sunday. The small groups. The home groups. Prayer meetings in somebody’s lounge where someone has made a lasagna, I probably won’t eat it and there’s probably a few cat hairs in it (true story). I remember one pot luck someone tried to feed us all raw chicken. Anyway, I love the big conference moments where thousands are singing and there is…
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People that left the church and why they hate me.
I was helping a church as an interim worship pastor — just serving, giving glory to Jesus through songs. My wife sang with me. It was a joy. The church preferred formal dress (Southern Baptist). I’m a jeans-and-T-shirt kind of guy. At the time we had no money. Literally none (other than credit cards). I used my last few dollars to buy a suit and smart clothes for my kids, two outfits each so we could rotate week to week.
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Not Everyone Drew the Same End-Times Chart, And That’s Okay
Did the early church believe in: secret rapture → 7-year tribulation → Israel resumes → second return → millennium? Short answer: no. Long answer: also no… but with some very real, very human disagreement - especially about the millennium.
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